Seat Filler: NYC Theater Guide for March

The Advocate's man on the New York theater scene breaks down 10 of your best bets Off-Broadway, including a riotous gay-rights drama, a passionate Stephen Sondheim musical, a surreal comedy about Bette Davis, and more.

BY Brandon Voss

March 21 2013 8:00 AM ET

Really Really
Damaged college kids do the darndest things in Paul Downs Colaizzo’s edgy, provocative drama — helmed by out director David Cromer — about friends trying to make sense of a date rape that may not have happened: Is the real victim the manipulative poor trash (Girls’ Zosia Mamet) or the quiet hothead (Friday Night Lights’ Matt Lauria)? Two closeted characters, a hot jock and a Christian go-getter, have their judgment further clouded by sexual repression.
Lucille Lortel Theatre, through March 30.

The Old Boy
Keen Company artistic director Jonathan Silverstein admirably dusts off A.R. Gurney’s taut 1991 time capsule about a politician who, when returning to his elite prep school, must face his own role in the downfall of a gay classmate who has recently succumbed to AIDS. Seen in flashbacks with the charismatic Peter Rini as mentor to Chris Dwan’s effeminate, clearly smitten mentee, the complicated relationship between the two boys eclipses the dated, clunky script.
Clurman Theatre, through March 30.